


A Matter of Trust

by Siver



Category: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21797659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siver/pseuds/Siver
Summary: The truth came out but some pains still linger.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	A Matter of Trust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laughingpineapple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingpineapple/gifts).



Jowd held no illusions that it would be easier after the full story came out. Different yes, and in some ways it was simpler—he didn’t need to hold on to too many secrets—but it opened the door to other problems. He earned the pain that came with all he did. They shouldn’t have had to know of their fates in a time that no longer existed.

But then he may as well have tried to drain the ocean for all the success he had in keeping the truth from them. He knew it hurt Alma and she’d been upset and grateful and afraid. It was something they could talk about and work through if not exactly solve. After all it was solved; she was here and alive.

As for Cabanela, as Jowd had come to learn over time, this Cabanela was easier to read. Gone were the years of building up barriers for what should have been a hopeless cause. Easi _er_ , not easy, but it was clear something still bothered him despite the smiles and flourishes that tried to claim otherwise.

He’d caught his watchful and studying stares several times before spilling the truth, and while they had lessened in number they were still there. Worse were the times he seemed distant. _Him,_ their ever present White Coat. He would snap back to the present readily enough, but it was bad enough to see it at all. While Cabanela was always an affectionate one, touches lingered longer now. It would be easy to chalk that one up to the same reasons he and Alma both did the same if it weren’t for the flashes of pain and if he could bring himself to attach the word to him of all people, possibly even hints of shame.

“You should talk to him,” Alma said when Jowd tried to touch on his concerns while simultaneously trying to make it seem a trivial thing. She wasn’t fooled for a second. “You know he won’t approach it himself,” she added while pulling a pan of cookies from the oven. She turned to face him and leaned on the counter. “Not while he can keep digging away on his own.”

“I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Wouldn’t you? It has to be about what happened. It must drive him crazy not knowing.”

“And you?”

“I was dead,” she said blithely over an underlying layer of pain. “There’s nothing for me to not remember.” 

Jowd took her hand, still blessedly warm from working around the oven, and squeezed before stepping forward to wrap her in a hug.

“I can’t say it doesn’t hurt,” Alma said quietly, leaning into the embrace. “I can’t say it doesn’t scare me. But, there’s nothing for me to wonder about either. He’s someone who has to find answers.”

Jowd snorted in a bitter sort of amusement. “I know that all too well.”

“You need to talk to him.”

“He’ll be here tomorrow,” Jowd said heavily.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t be opposed to coming tonight as well. Don’t delay this, for both your sakes.”

Jowd shook his head, his thoughts elsewhere and on one night in particular. “No, there’s something I need to do first. Tomorrow evening.”

Jowd suspected he knew exactly what had Cabanela concerned. Cabanela and Alma both drilled him on various points, but there was one point Cabanela hadn’t touched, though his tension had only grown as Jowd continued. If he was indeed correct he did have some preparations to make and some searching to do.

Dinner went smoothly and cheerfully that next day and for a little while Jowd could almost forget the task looming ahead until after sitting comfortably on the sofa chatting for a time, Alma rose to get Kamila ready for bed. A quick kiss for Jowd and a squeeze of Cabanela’s shoulder and then she was gone leaving Jowd alone with him.

“Is there somethin’ I should knooow?” Cabanela asked in a tone that seemed just a little too casual for Jowd’s comfort. He had spotted Cabanela’s instances of offness; how many had Cabanela spotted in turn?

“That’s what I should be asking you.”

“If you’re lookin’ for a clue on your case you’ll have to look elsewhere my friend,” he said lightly before something tightened in his face. “That’s assuming you don’t already remember it anyway.”

“I may have the broad strokes but the details change.” Jowd shrugged with a wry smile. “Resets and undead cats will do that.”

Cabanela’s mouth quirked. “Let us be glaaad for that, baby.”

“However, that’s not what’s been bothering you.”

“I’ve never said anything is.”

“Stop.” Jowd sighed. “After everything you’ve done for me, the least I can do is listen. I have my suspicions, but I want to hear it from you.”

“What Iii’ve done. I can’t remember a single bit of it. That ‘me’ doesn’t exist anymore.”

“You’re still who I remember. If there’s one constant here, it’s you. Always have been even if I was too blind to see it.”

“Am I?” Cabanela said and there was an edge of unusual bitterness to his words. “I can’t remember any of it. I didn’t live that life. I can guess at a lot of what I was thinkin’, but leavin’ you alone for five years? I let you think I abandoned you.”

There it was. Seeing him, leaning back against the couch beside him, minutes earlier seemingly without a care in the world, it was still hard to believe this of all things was what bothered him as if he, Jowd, hadn’t deserved those years of silence and more. Hard until his memories superimposed a different image of his battered form sprawled across the chair and relentless gaze fixed on him. Questionable priorities remained a constant.

“I wanted you to,” Jowd said.

“That doesn’t make it okay!” Cabanela burst out. “Look at what you became!”

Jowd held up a hand. “Let me finish. It’s what I wanted and you never once let me have it. You never once left me. You were pivotal in helping all of us get this back. I wanted to believe you left but I never truly did.”

“Not even a phone call.”

Jowd gave a heavy sigh and lifted the case he prepared. “I didn’t need to see or hear you for you to be there despite all my intentions.” At least Cabanela didn’t have to see him as he was, at least that. “And a part of me knew that from the start.” With that he removed the case’s lid, revealing the old antique gun. “I told you about this and my plans for it.”

Cabanela gave the gun a look of distaste. “Your plaaans are another matter entirely,” he replied dryly.

“Not quite. From the start I knew I couldn’t leave any threads for you to pull until you unravelled everything. I had to chase you away. By making sure you wouldn’t have it until it was over I thought to bring you closure, to make it easy for you to hate me.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Exactly. I tried everything I could to paint myself into Alma’s murderer and it didn’t make a difference. I was a fool. As much as I wanted to believe my plans were working. As much as I tried to believe all the rumours, a part of me always knew they were all wrong. Then there you were in the courtyard. You did come in the end, bright and bold as always with a gun pointed my way as it should be, even as I knew you’d never fire it.”

“As it should be,” Cabanela echoed with a pointed stare.

“And there’s this,” Jowd said and pulled out a golden watch. He pressed it into Cabanela’s hand and smiled faintly at the memory of Cabanela’s throw.

Cabanela stared at it. “Is thiiis?”

“I doubt it’s the same one.” Too many years early for that, not that he would put it past Cabanela to find the one antique watch left languishing for years. It was fitting. “And it lacks your adjustments.”

Cabanela ran a thumb over the casing. “This I wish I could remember. Glad to know I got somethin’ right.”

Jowd caught and held his gaze. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there. You did come. After all that time and my lies you still trusted me to have your back. I trust you to have mine. Then and now.”

“I always will.”

“Exactly.”

“But you died more than once. We almost lost you,” Cabanela said, voice heavy and lower than normal. “I didn’t make it in time.”

“You made it in the end. That watch saved us all.” Cabanela had died too according to Sissel and as Jowd once more remembered him in his old friend’s office he knew with a sense of dread it was entirely possible death came for him soon again. He pulled Cabanela into a sudden hug.

“I’m here,” Jowd said. “You never stopped fighting. And somehow this fool is lucky enough to still have you both despite everything I’ve done.”

Cabanela hugged back tightly, clinging. “You _are_ a fool if you think I’d leeeave you again, baby.”

“I think you’ve taught me better than that now, old friend.”

“Glaaad to hear it.”

Alma stepped in and gave the pair a satisfied nod before Jowd pulled her in too. He was here. They were here, two of his most precious people and the third safely asleep in her room. This time he would earn their trust. This time he would accept it. They were here. Always.


End file.
